Back-to-back incidents test firefighters

KELLOGG — Monday was a wild day for the firefighters of Shoshone County Fire District No. 2, as they responded to two separate ignitions on the west end of the Silver Valley merely hours apart.

The first fire on April 29 began with a slash burn pile at the base of a hill in South Kellogg that nearly caused a wildfire.

Residents at 614 Upper Third St. in Kellogg were burning household materials, along with chemically treated lumber, when strong winds blew in and took the fire up the hillside around 1 p.m.

Fortunately fire crews from SCFD No. 2, as well as the Idaho Department of Lands, were able to respond quickly before the fire grew any larger than the single acre it burned.

“We saw just how fast it went up that mountain side,” SCFD No. 2 chief Mark Aamodt said. “It’s amazing just how quick those grasses and fuels have dried out.”

Crews with SCFD No. 2 put the fire out quickly and then mobilized to get a fire line dug out around the affected area.

According to Aamodt, the residents of the address failed to supervise the fire. This is on top of the fact that the fire itself was illegal based on the contents that were being burned.

“The only thing that’s supposed to be burned is natural products, no garbage or anything chemically treated,” Aamodt said. “They had stuff like finished lumber up there and that’s not supposed to be burned.”

The home had no power or running water to it, due to a dispute between the owners of the home and the people occupying the house.

While Kellogg Police did respond to the fire, it is unknown at this time if any charges will be filed against the occupants by the City or the owners of the home itself.

Even with this fire taken care of, crews from both agencies had little time to rest, as they were dispatched to a house fire that had broken out at a home in the Latour Creek area of Cataldo not two hours after the first fire.

“We broke free right away and took off,” Aamodt said. “We had pretty much mopped up (the first scene) anyway.”

Upon arrival, crews found the fire was relegated to the second story of the cedar-wood home. Firefighters initially entered the top floor in an attempt to quell the blaze before it spread to the rest of the structure, but extreme temperatures forced them to exit and take a defense posture. Hose lines were quickly established around the structure, being fed by a “bird bath” (essentially a large pool) set up by IDL. This bird bath had to be constantly refilled, as there were no available hydrants on scene.

Just when the fire was thought to be weakened, it would gain strength once again and flare back up.

Aamodt commented on-scene that several factors were working against his crews’ efforts, such as weather and the building itself.

“The biggest thing was the construction of the house, being an older log home that had void areas where the fire got seeded,” Aamodt said. “Also just like on the wildfire, the more wind you got blowing through the house just chased the fire around.”

SCFD No. 2 and IDL finally got a handle on the situation around 9 p.m. that night and would remain on scene until the following day to ensure that the fire was completely suppressed.

Aamodt stressed that if residents believe there is something wrong (such as a fire), call 911 and report it.

“The (occupant) had actually smelt smoke earlier, walked through the house and couldn’t find anything, so he thought maybe smoke was just coming in from outside,” he said. “He went off to do some other chores he had, then his neighbor came and got him to tell him that his house was on fire.”

No injuries were reported at either incident and the fire at the home was kept to the original structure (which has been declared a total loss).